Allegations against Russell Brand and, separately, David Walliams have led to calls for greater legal protection for 16- and 17-year-olds from sexual exploitation by older adults.
asserted
Allegations → lead → adults
A staggered consent law is one route favoured by campaigners, supported by some Labour MPs.
asserted
law → favour → MPs
Claire Waxman, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, has called for “serious conversations” on the potential for legislative change.
asserted
Waxman → call → change
The barrister Charlotte Proudman, who specialises in law regarding violence against women and girls, said: “Staggered, or graduated, age of consent means that the law takes account of the age difference between sexual partners, rather than treating 16 as the point at which a child can legally consent to sexual activity with someone of any age.
asserted
child → specialise → age
A 16-year-old cannot buy alcohol or cigarettes, but someone decades older can legally have sex with them.
asserted
someone → buy → them
“The law does not adequately recognise the significant power imbalance between children and much older adults, particularly where grooming, financial dependence, celebrity status or emotional manipulation are involved,” Proudman said.
asserted
Proudman → recognise → children
A move to staggered consent “would place responsibility on the older adult”, she said, rather than requiring a teenage complainant to demonstrate grooming, coercion or exploitation.
asserted
she → place → grooming
“This is not about denying young people sexual autonomy,” she said.
asserted
she → deny → autonomy
“It is about recognising that consent must be understood in the context of age, maturity, vulnerability and power.”
asserted
consent → recognise → age
The Close the Consent Gap campaign proposes a staggered age of consent making it a criminal offence for a 16- or 17-year-old to consent to sexual activity with anyone more than three years their senior.
asserted
old → close → anyone
“For example, a consensual relationship between two teenagers close in age would remain lawful, whereas sexual activity between a 16-year-old and a 35-year-old would be prohibited,” said the campaign’s founder, Layla Stone.
asserted
founder → remain → old
“Every other framework of the law recognises 16- and 17-year-olds as children.
asserted
framework → recognise → children
We want the law to recognise children – 16 and 17 years old – as children who need to be protected in all frameworks of the law.”
asserted
who → want → law
She said there could be a “huge power imbalance” between a 16-year-old living at home and a 21-year-old with money and independence.
uncertain
She → say → money
Some countries have extra safeguards built in for 16- and 17-year-olds.
asserted
countries → have → olds
Canada, for example, recognises age difference as a factor in determining exploitation for this age group.
asserted
Canada → recognise → group
For 14- and 15-year-olds, Canadian law criminalises any sexual activity if a partner is five or more years older.
asserted
partner → criminalise → activity
Prof Roger Ingham, the director of the Centre for Sexual Health Research at the University of Southampton, said: “My question, as a researcher, is what is the evidence that it actually works or doesn’t work to protect young people.”
asserted
it → say → people
He said there was no strong evidence that different countries with different ages had completely different patterns of sexual behaviour or outcomes.
asserted
countries → say → behaviour
But he said it was a difficult question to answer “because a lot of these cases are simply not reported”.
asserted
lot → say → cases
Ingham said “tinkering with the law” could divert attention from other efforts including better sex education, and risked young people avoiding seeking contraceptive advice, or other support they needed, if their relationship was deemed illegal.
uncertain
relationship → say → advice
Dr Sophie King-Hill, an associate professor at the University of Birmingham researching sexual behaviour of children and young people, said people were “looking for fixes, looking for blame, looking for gaps in the law,” but she also questioned where was the evidence that it worked.
“If we’re looking at preventing grooming and preventing young people being exploited, we’ve got to be really careful not to confuse this changing of the law with solving the problem,” she said.
asserted
she → research → problem
It was “a very complex and complicated” issue, King-Hill said.
asserted
Hill → say → ?
“And grooming, coercion, manipulation and abuse of power don’t suddenly begin at 16.
asserted
grooming → begin → 16
I can see where it’s coming from.
asserted
it → see → where
People feel like they need to do something, and I’m not necessarily opposed to it in its totality, but I think it’s really naive to see it as such a solution to something that’s really complex and complicated within society.”
asserted
that → feel → society
It risked creating a false sense of protection for young people, she said, and risked children and young people not coming forward “because they’ll be worried they’ve broken the law”.
asserted
they → risk → law
She said: “I think from my research perspective and the work that I’ve carried out, you’ve got to do things like this really carefully, because you can inadvertently make things worse or oversimplify a very complex and complicated problem.”
asserted
things → say → problem
The Aporia
